This site is about finding, collecting, identifying and preparing
the more safe and common edible and medicinal mushroom species of Maine,
New England, and Eastern Canada. The content is aimed at cooks, foragers,
herbalists, and restaurateurs.

I am David Spahr. I live in
the town of Washington, Maine located in Knox County, midway between
central and mid-coast Maine. I am known by some as the "Mushroom
Maineiac" The species on this site are nearly
all gathered and photographed within 35 miles of my residence. I
created, photographed, designed, and built all content unless otherwise
noted. Almost all mushrooms pictured I personally ingested.

There is risk in consuming wild mushrooms! Use of the mushroom-collecting.com
website will constitute your acceptance of the disclaimer.
This is a learning process that can take a lifetime. Do not go right out
picking! Get good books. Find an experienced teacher or a club. Learn the rules
for collecting. Be very careful. Mushrooms listed as edible in some
field guides may not be edible in your area. The lilac brown bolete
(Tylopilus eximius or Sutorius eximius) is usually listed as edible. In Maine, there have been
many poisonings from this one. Do not eat it. Angel wings (Pleurocybella
porrigens) are a thin and white oyster-like mushroom found growing
on conifers. There have been some reports of poisoning recently although
most field guides list them as edible. Angel wings should be avoided.

Mushroom-collecting.com is about giving you inside information on
finding mushrooms. During the past decade, when I wanted to be able to
locate new species I would often ask other mushroom hunters, brokers and others
how I would find mushrooms like matsutake or black trumpets. I most often
received general or somewhat sketchy descriptions of how to do that. Many
are protective of their knowledge and "their" mushrooms. Field
guides give a "mycological" general description of the ecology
such as: "several to gregarious under hardwoods and sometimes
conifers in the eastern United States from July to September". I
don't find a description like this particularly helpful. I will try to
avoid such dry, general descriptions. There are some species that will get
more detailed descriptions because I find them more often and know more
about them. This site will evolve as I continue to learn and photograph
and cook.

Mushroom-collecting.com provides useful ideas for cooking
mushrooms. I love to cook.My mother started teaching me about
1957. I research and experiment with mushrooms and other foraged food in
my kitchen almost daily.

Many people look at the different types of mushrooms and
are not sure how to prepare them. Mushrooms are like vegetables. They
have different flavors and have widely varying textures and colors. Water absorption
varies widely among the different species. Most
mushrooms only respond well to certain cooking techniques. I have seen
well known television chefs do absolutely dreadful things with wild
mushrooms. I have heard them say things that showed they were not well
versed in the mushrooms they were using. Generally, it is not wise to mix
wild mushrooms with white button, cremini, or portobello mushrooms (all
Agaricus bisporus) from your supermarket unless you want your wild mushrooms to
taste like the strong flavored agaricus. Porcini and maitake may maintain
their character but chanterelles are easily lost. Many wild mushrooms are just too rare, subtle or distinctive in flavor to
be mixed or combined in certain ways. It makes as much sense as using Château
Lafite-Rothschild to make holiday punch! See the Evaluating
flavor using basic processespage
for ideas about best usage.

Mushroom-collecting.com
is about
increasing awareness of medicinal species. Many mushrooms contain
unique medicinal components.Rather than making
unfounded claims, links go to studies from respected resources such as PubMed
from the NIH Library, the American
Cancer Society, Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center and other scientific sources. Presently, there are some
overly ambitious assertions about mushrooms being generated by some who
are selling mushroom products. Very few human studies have been done. I'm trying to keep it real here so if you
think I have crossed the line, feel free to let me know.

Mushroom-collecting.com has information about dyeing
fabrics and paper. Anne Williams of Stonington Maine, generously
shares the discoveries of her many years of research in dyeing wool with
mushrooms. She does have unique mushroom yarn you can buy.

Mushroom-collecting.com is not about identifying every mushroom found
in Maine. That is too much ground to cover and there are other sites
that do that exceptionally well. It is not about
hallucinogenic mushrooms. Do not try to pick hallucinogenic
mushrooms! Little brown mushrooms can be very difficult for even
mycologists to identify. Eating a Galerina by mistake could result in death!

This site is about the easy to find, relatively safe,
edible and medicinal mushrooms found in Maine, New England and Eastern
Canada. Most of the
species covered are found in many parts of the world. Edible mushrooms with
questionable relatives may be omitted. Some edible species are excluded if
they are hard to find, flavorless, or of questionable edibility where a
few people experience gastric upset. Leccinum species (scaber stalks) and
slippery jack (Suillus luteus) will not be covered although listed as
edible in most books. These two examples fail on two counts since they
don't agree with some people and have marginal culinary value.

I have collected and consumed wild mushrooms since
1972. Good information about
edible mushrooms was hard to find in the 1970s so it was fortunate I did
not poison myself considering the less than excellent books I was using. That said, I
was actually quite careful only eating large puffballs and fairy ring
mushrooms at first. I endeavored to add one or two species a year to the
mushrooms I was eating. It was not until 1981 when the National
Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms by Gary
H. Lincoff was published that I started getting more serious about
collecting. I like his use of common names and try to learn the
accompanying Latin names of the mushrooms I care about. The photographs are
mostly excellent. I have referred to that book countless times studying it from
cover to cover. I still don't know them all. When I started there was no
internet and no mushroom groups. At first, I didn't know anyone else who
did this and was not aware of any clubs. The learning process was slower.
It was a hobby that kept gaining momentum. I am a member of the Maine Mycological Association and
often attend their organized group forays.
It has been an honor to learn from Dr. Sam Ristich, the founder of MMA and
one of the original mushroom gurus and the many other knowledgeable
mushroom experts and fanciers.

I have the heart of a hunter, farmer, and cook more
than the heart of a scientist. I have a foragers
mentality. I loved everything outdoors since I was old enough to go
outside. We had farm property and lived right next to a lot of woods so I
spent a lot of time there. Close encounters with wild and domestic
animals, plants, and trees were daily occurrences. For me, everything in
the natural world is awesome.

I certainly do respect peer reviewed
scientific methods of inquiry and understand how that differs from
anecdotal evidence. I do use a microscope occasionally for learning and
identification. I culture spores and grow spawn but mostly for the purpose
of growing mushrooms around my house and woodlot. Rather than having a lot
of logs or a growing room I am attempting to
induce growth of local wild (and other) species around my property using slurries,
transplantation, plug spawn and other strategies. I envision my
woodlot and surrounding property as a mushroom and wild plant wonderland
in a few years. Some strategies are my own ideas and as yet of unproven
worth. Since I have a lot of ideas, I am seeing which will "stick to
the wall". (Stump culture did not stick) This has been going on since the early 1990s.

This site will be eventually linked to future sites
related to "forest farming" and foraging that will eventually have different working titles.

I am available for private and
semi private mushroom/foraging walks and mushroom talks with a PowerPoint
show. I know quite a bit about plant and other foraging as well
that will be shared on mushroom walks. I also do mushroom cooking demos
and point and shoot mushroom/nature photography instruction. Email or call me for more
information. I do two day mushroom walks in conjunction with
Le Vatout Bed
and Breakfast in Waldoboro Maine where I also cook the dinner on the
first night. Call LeVatout for arrangements. I also do one day walks at
Squire Tarbox Inn at Westport Island Maine, and Hartstone Inn in Camden
Maine.

My mushroom book
Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms of New England and Eastern Canada has been released as of 7-21-09. You
can email me for author
signed copies or pay $20 + $3 (shipping) USD by PayPal using this email
address. I also accept checks. Maine residents need to add $1 more for sales tax. Canadian
pricing is $20 + $7. It will also be available in book stores
and online. That supports the author less well. You can read Amazon
customer reviews
here.

I have appeared on the "207" a Maine TV news
magazine cooking wild mushroom twice baked potatoes. See it here: 207.

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